Thoughtful Thursday: It's National Seafood Month!

Published October 03, 2013

October is National Seafood Month – a chance for us to highlight and celebrate healthy food choices and healthy oceans.

At the National Aquarium, we are working hard to improve the health of our ocean ecosystems and the sustainability of our fish stocks. Healthy marine ecosystems provide many benefits, none more obvious than the seafood we eat.

Across our country we have a long history of close connections to our local seafood. From Maine lobster, pacific salmon and Gulf of Mexico red snapper, to Chesapeake Bay blue crabs, people and communities grew to thrive and depend on local seafood production. And these relationships have helped us to better understand the need to care for both our oceans and the fish they support. But like much of the food we buy, even as choices have multiplied, our connections to seafood have gotten more complicated.

Think of your last seafood meal. Really think.

Chances are you remember how it tasted, how it was prepared, the people that shared the meal with you, possibly even the nutritional value of your choice. Chances are also that you did NOT think about the long and often complicated journey involved in getting that seafood to your plate, your choice of fish and where and how it was caught or farmed.

Most likely, you aren't even sure if that fish came from the United States (currently over 80 percent of our seafood is imported.) You also may not even know for sure that you really got the type of fish that was advertised. Yet informed purchasing choices are among the most powerful ways that each of us can support both sustainable seafood and healthy oceans.

During each week in October, we are going to highlight different subjects related to making thoughtful seafood choices. We’ll talk about fisheries, sustainability, supply chains, traceability, eating local, pirate fishing, human health and economics. Seafood can be a really healthy food choice – but we want to make sure we maximize those health benefits for our families. We also want to ensure health benefits for our oceans. Check back each week to learn about the issues facing our seafood choices and how we can work together to make a difference.